They aren’t better or worse, just different. Try to add the resistance bands at the end of your workout and do one set until failure for added work on your shoulders. This is a great finisher if you are used to lifting weights.

Thank you for the video! It is always nice to review basic moves to ensure my form is correct.

I was hoping to get your advice. I am 31 years old and have been working out for 10+ years. I have never had a problem with weight or getting muscle definition until this past year. My diet and workouts have not changed, but my hormones are out of balance and I’ve gained 30 lbs. I have PCOS but do not have insulin resistance.

Diet
I have been eating the slow carb diet for 2 1/2 years now which is probably why I am not insulin resistant (only meat, eggs, veggies, lentils, sweet potatoes, protein powder, some nuts). I follow your nutrition advice about when to eat and post workout meals. I am working with a naturopathic doctor and I realize balancing hormones is tricky and a very slow process. However, the weight gain is extremely frustrating. Nothing I do triggers weight loss.

Do you recommend heavier weights and 10-12 reps or lighter weights and 15-20 reps? Should I increase the amount of time I spend lifting weights and decrease yoga and Pilates time? I am so frustrated – I eat healthy and exercise regularly yet I am not see any results! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Jess,
Your diet sounds very good. 50 minutes of interval cardio sounds like a lot. I would say decrease the length to 20 – 30 minutes but try and make that amount of time as INTENSE as possible. Yoga and Pilates is very good for you so I wouldn’t cut that out. You have 4 upper body workouts per week but only one for legs so I would swap one upper body workout (day 2 would be good) for another lower body workout.
Flavia has exactly what workouts to do each day layed out in her Curvalicious program which would be great to try if you want to change things up 🙂
All the best!
Anna, CPT, FF Specialist

Yes 50 minutes of HIIT is a lot and actually this is impossible if you are going HIIT properly. You son’t seem to be doing much resistance training which is likely why you may not be happy where you are. Yoga and Pilates are great but I personally don’t think they count for much of a workout.

Make sure you are keeping your heart rate high with your training and nutrition really is key. If you haven’t done so before, write everything down that you are eating and what your training looks like on a day-to-day basis.

Every week at the same time, measure and weight yourself – look back at your training and diet and see where you can improve. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE YOUR DIET AND TRAINING WORK FOR YOU! You need to see proven methods.

I bought CURVALICIOUS back in October. I’ve been doing the program religiously since January and I’m getting stronger! I could only do 4 dips, 10 push-ups and 0 pull ups then. I’m up to 10 dips, 20 push-ups & 2 pull ups. Just wanted to say thank you Flavia for the workouts!

I’m with you Flavia, Shoulder are my favorite body part to train!! Love when they pop!! Great Video…I really never used resistance bands until I started doing your workouts and find them really effective along with using dumbells.

I’m having trouble trying to work my rear delts with the lateral raises and rear delt flies, my traps always seem to take over before I’m able to complete the movement, especially when I perform rear delt flies. Do you have any suggestions on how to elict a better contraction response from this muscle group? Oh and I curious what the resistance weight was on the band in the video. Thank you for your help!

PS: I’m looking to build muscle. I’d like to lose some fat too but I’m leaning more towards muscle building.

Rear delts are one of the harder muscle groups to isolate for most people. When trying to isolate the rear delt protract your shoulders (push them forwards) keep them protracted the entire time and try not to let your scapula move very much. From there do the fly thinking about initiating the movement with your rear delt. It will be a limited range of motion but that is the full ROM of your rear delt so that is all that matters.
Hope that makes sense, let me know if you need anything else!
All the best!
Anna, CPT, FF Specialist

Wow! Thank you for the advice! The protracted position really helped a lot with rear delt isolation. I did a few practice reps with body weight just to make sure I was executing the movement correctly and already I felt a difference in the way the muscles were worked. I tried to focus on “srugging” with my delts while keeping my traps and back relaxed-it was like learning a new movement! Thank you for explaining about the ROM. I don’t think I understood that, although it seems like a small movement for the body, it’s NOT a small movement for that specific muscle. Now I can conquer those flies and raises with confidence instead of facing the thought of doing them with dread.

I also find when working my rear delts working one at a time and using a resistance band really allows you to focus and feel the delt working. I do bend-over reverse flys. You do the move by holding one side of the resistance band, step on the band enough so that when you bend over you have a “tug” before you initiate the movement. Then you do 12 reps, then 10 and another 10. It’s really a small move but if you do it right it burns by your last two reps on each set.